This is a question for the experienced cruisers.
My wife and I have taken many cruises out of San Juan and are planning another on RC this January. Flight options on arrival to the port after the cruise are limited to either early morning (8 am departure, arrive home mid-afternoon) or middle to late afternoon (3 PM or later with arrival at home around midnight).
The ship supposedly docks at 6 am, but for those who have done these cruises before, the usual arrival time is around 3 am. According to the cruise literature, disembarkation starts at 8 but on many identical cruises we have taken on RC before, they will offload passengers with tight airline connections well before that, around 7 or even earlier. As an aside, in the past we were able to catch 9am flights from this cruise without trouble, but 8am may be pushing it.
We do not check luggage and carry-on only so picking up luggage is not an issue, and we have Global Entry and Clear although that doesn't matter in this case. However, there really isn't any customs or passport control like an airport, so once off, it would be a dash to the taxi and airport.
My approach to this would be to book the 8 AM return with refundable fares, and make a second booking using miles with an alternative airline that leaves at a more reasonable hour. If the first reservation is going to fail, a simple phone call before departure will allow cancellation with refund assured and I would just use the second back-up flight, which gets us home around midnight. If we did make the first flight, I would cancel the second and have my miles refunded.
I am reaching out to ya'all to see if anyone else has been able to debark from RC in San Juan before the official time of 8am (which I know is bunk) and if so, just how early. Thanks in advance.
Radonc1
My wife and I have taken many cruises out of San Juan and are planning another on RC this January. Flight options on arrival to the port after the cruise are limited to either early morning (8 am departure, arrive home mid-afternoon) or middle to late afternoon (3 PM or later with arrival at home around midnight).
The ship supposedly docks at 6 am, but for those who have done these cruises before, the usual arrival time is around 3 am. According to the cruise literature, disembarkation starts at 8 but on many identical cruises we have taken on RC before, they will offload passengers with tight airline connections well before that, around 7 or even earlier. As an aside, in the past we were able to catch 9am flights from this cruise without trouble, but 8am may be pushing it.
We do not check luggage and carry-on only so picking up luggage is not an issue, and we have Global Entry and Clear although that doesn't matter in this case. However, there really isn't any customs or passport control like an airport, so once off, it would be a dash to the taxi and airport.
My approach to this would be to book the 8 AM return with refundable fares, and make a second booking using miles with an alternative airline that leaves at a more reasonable hour. If the first reservation is going to fail, a simple phone call before departure will allow cancellation with refund assured and I would just use the second back-up flight, which gets us home around midnight. If we did make the first flight, I would cancel the second and have my miles refunded.
I am reaching out to ya'all to see if anyone else has been able to debark from RC in San Juan before the official time of 8am (which I know is bunk) and if so, just how early. Thanks in advance.
Radonc1